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Ff pixel perfect9/10/2023 ![]() ![]() These story moments captured in time are where the 16-bit trilogy section truly excels. Two pages are given to the opera scene one page shows the perspective from the audience, while the other shows the view from onstage as well as Celes throwing her bouquet from atop the set. ![]() Any Final Fantasy fan can tell you that, sure, but to see the Phantom Train, Neo Exdeath, and the Four Fiends given the full page treatment really shows of the skill and artistry that went into these games. First of all the quality of the art itself is incredible. ![]() Let’s talk first about where it succeeds. Speaking of Final Fantasy VI, the SNES/Super Famicom era is where FF DOT. It’s also a startling reminder that while Sabin is a bit of a goofy name, it’s infinitely more believable than Mash. It’s a nice touch that shows this book was made with love and care for an international audience. In fact an interesting thing to note is that while this is a Japanese import book, all text is presented not only in Japanese and English, but localized names are provided alongside the Romanized Japanese originals. The layout does an excellent job at emphasizing key battle sequences by featuring certain bosses in two-page spreads, sometimes with key dialogue helpfully presented in both Japanese and English. Each game also has pages dedicated to enemy sprites, battle backgrounds, items, towns (often breaking them down tile by tile), menus, and bosses. WARNING: Book contains a lot of guys that look like this.īut Final Fantasy is more than just the Warriors of Light. Having these character sprites from these three titles in such close proximity makes for a really interesting look at what changes were made to each class as the series progressed I had never appreciated the subtle differences between Warrior(FFI), Firion(FFII), and Warrior(FFIII) until I compared their dedicated pages in FF DOT. The character section for Final Fantasy III is predictably robust – being the first game in the series to have a job-change system a lot of real estate is taken up by showing off the dozens of different sprites created for each class. Each section starts out with a detailed look at the playable characters sprites, often breaking down select sprites with both a grid to show the exact dimensions and a colour palette to show just how limited a colour range the artist had to work within. The NES/Famicom trilogy gets the most even representation across it’s three titles. Blown up pixel art from Final Fantasy I, II, III, IV, V, and VI in chronological order with plain, often white or black, backgrounds to better highlight the sharp edges and bright colours of the art. The content is exactly what you would expect. is absolutely a book that you can judge by it’s cover – minimalist, deliberate, clean, and a little bit whimsical. It’s fitting then that for the 30 th anniversary of Final Fantasy, Square Enix has released a 288-page love letter to Shibuya, the pixel artists of the 8- and 16-bit era of Final Fantasy, and to an art style that continues to shape pop culture.įF DOT. Much like coins or ‘? Blocks’ or a HI SCORE leaderboard, Shibuya’s 16×24 pixel figures are cultural shorthand for not just adventure games of a certain vintage, but videogames as the world sees them. The default character sprites for the Warriors of Light are timeless and continue to be riffed upon, referenced, parodied, and pastiched in and outside of videogames. Her artwork for Final Fantasy on the Famicom captured the perfect proportions for expressive and detailed, but uncluttered character design. She created and refined many of the visual elements that have come to define the look of JRPGs. Kazuko Shibuya is one of the most influential artists in game design and an unsung hero of the ‘videogame’ aesthetic. ![]()
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